WHEN IT’S NOT A BATTERED, TATTERED, STAINED CHURCH OR CLUB COOKBOOK, WHAT IS IT?

It may surprise you to learn that spiral bound cookbooks – whether battered, tattered, stained or not – are not all church or club cookbooks. In fact, there is such a wide variety of “other” types of cookbooks that I am hard pressed to find categories for some of them and often am at a loss where to file them.

Cookbooks produced by museums throughout the country are numerous enough to have their own spotlight. The same might be said of cookbooks published by restaurants. (One of the most famous of these might be Ruth Wakefield’s Toll House restaurant cookbook.)

One kind of cookbook you may not be quite as familiar with may be those compiled and published by an individual or a family. The ones published by an individual are easy to understand – everyone loves your recipes, everyone says you really ought to publish a cookbook – and so you do. (but oops – all those people who kept saying you ought to publish a cookbook may not be as forthcoming when you let them know the books are $10 or $15 each.

As for families – I can speak for my own family; it took us 20 years of cajoling, begging and persuading to get enough recipes to finally have our cookbook published. And then it all fell into my sister Becky’s hands and mine to see it through – from collecting to publishing, and putting up the money between us to get it to the publisher. (for, while clubs and churches have something like a 90 day grace period from the time they receive the published book to get it paid off – individuals have to have the books paid in full before they are shipped. Our cookbook was published in 2004 and almost all of the copies distributed amongst family & friends of the family.

Only 200 copies were published. When I edited a cookbook for our local PTA, only about 200 copies were published and a boxful of those got lost somewhere along the way. I have often regretted not holding onto the ones that hadn’t sold. My sister Becky and I were both involved in PTA cookbooks around the same time, in the 1970s. Oddly, one of HER PTA cookbooks ended up in Maryland – where a friend of mine bought it, not knowing it was my sister’s art work throughout the book. I was dumbfounded to find a copy on her shelves. Generally, I file PTA cookbooks with the state in which they were published.

Even so, there are oodles and oodles of individuals and “others” that often turn up in the marked-down sale prices in front of used bookstore windows, loose ends, perhaps, because no one knows quite how to categorize them. One such might be “Northwest Corner Historical Cookbook, Food & Fact”, copyright 1970 by “the author” and warns without the express permission of the author, no portion or part of this book may be duplicated…but it took some searching and a magnifying glass to find the names “Arthur & Margaret Mortensen” in small print—I’d share one of their recipes with you but I don’t want to run amuck of Arthur or Margaret – or their heirs, considering that the book was published 40 years ago.

“NESEI KITCHEN” was published in 1975 by the St Louis Chapter Japanese American Citizens League—file with Missouri cookbooks? Japanese? Here, from Nesei Kitchen is a recipe for broiled shrimp on skewers that you will be sure to like – whether or not you like “foreign food”.

36 shrimp
½ cup mirin*
½ cup soy sauce
¼ cup sugar
bamboo skewers

Shell and devein shrimp. Set aside. In a small sauce pan, combine soy sauce, mirin and sugar. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 3-4 minutes. Place 2 shrimp on each skewer. Dip briefly in soy sauce mixture. Broil over medium charcoal; heat for 2-3 minutes, dipping in sauce once or twice during broiling. Serve hot. Serves 10-12

(Sandy’s cooknote *Mirin is a Japanese rice wine less alcoholic than Sake. This would be a great appetizer for a small dinner party group. I would suggest using medium to large shrimp). **

One of the first non-church or club cookbooks that I bought back in the 1970s was something called “A LITTLE FUR IN THE MERINGUE NEVER REALLY HURTS THE FILLING” by Cherie, published in 1972. I think I bought it mostly out of curiosity, but I discovered, page after page, that Cheri wrote the kind of cookbook I might have written myself. In the introduction, Cherie writes, “For several years now, my friends have asked me to sit down and write a book because they say everything different happens to you and ends up being funny….”

A bit later, Cherie writes, “It is not symbolic of anything, no hidden meanings lurk among the pot roast, is practically devoid of sex and four –letter words, takes absolutely no intelligence to read, will certainly not make the literary world stand up and take notice, and sure won’t add a damn thing to the Vietnam situation. It is however, typical of most women’s everyday experiences. Those little trials and tribulations, like those fallen cakes you’ve baked for the church bazaar, those cut fingers every time you’ve just run out of bandaid, and all of those other little meaningless happenings that add up to a big fat headache. I realize we now have tranquilizers to solve these problems but for those of us who are still tee-totlers …I offer you the chance to share with me, my excellent recipes, my two many pounds, my two diabolical children [I had four), my roly-poly poodle and my fat and balding husband….” Well, she got me on the fat and balding husband. But Cherie wrote the kind of chatty cookbook I would have written, if I had ever gone down that road. It really IS the kind of cookbook you can read like other people read novels.

There are dozens of great recipes from which to choose – but I am going to present to you one of my favorites, similar to the cucumber recipe of my childhood. This is Cherie’s recipe for

Sandy’s cooknote: You can make this up a day (or even two) in advance. It will keep. I suggest you double the recipe because if you start sampling the cucumbers, as I tend to do, you will need to make more. A nice ripe tomato can also be sliced and added to the dish. The first time I made this for a Filipino girlfriend at one of our outdoor parties, she sat and ate the whole bowl of cucumbers.)

(*It took some searching but I finally did find some copies being offered on Amazon by private vendors, for about $7.50 each – not a bad price. I was surprised to find it listed at all.)

Another individually written cookbook in my files is something called
“Treasured & wanted Recipes” by Mary Ellen. In her introduction, Mary Ellen writes, “For 20 some years I’ve been asked to share my recipes – I have shared and many have shared with me. Now it’s time to share with all. Some are very old family recipes, some rather new – others from dear friends and then there are the little out-of-the- way Inns, where you corner the cook!….” “Treasured & Wanted recipes” has a copyright date of 1978. From Mary Ellen’s cookbook here is her recipe for “THE ‘OLD DUTCH’ COLE SLAW” and she adds “And I do mean old”. To make Mary Ellen’s Old Dutch Cole Slaw you will need:

Refrigerate cabbage, when shredded, to keep crisp. Beat cream to medium whipped cream only, then add other ingredients. Mix with cabbage just before serving.

“Treasured & Wanted Recipes” originally sold for $6.95 and Mary Ellen sold copies from her home in Kalamazoo. If you can find a copy, you will love it. I was unable to find any pre owned copies in my web searches.

Another favorite of mine is a well-worn copy of “1000+ Recipes from the American Cancer Society, Florida Division” – I no longer remember where I found it – possibly when I was living in Florida. The book was published in 1979 and I lived in North Miami Beach from 1979 to 1982. A huge amount of work went into “1000+ Recipes” which contains several recipes for chicken liver pate – one of my favorite appetizers (which my mother called Black Butter) –

You know there are numerous recipe for chicken liver pate. Try this one:

In 1976, the Yellowstone Art Center Associates published a cookbook titled “Art A La Carte” with proceeds from the sale of the books going for improvements and exhibitions at the Yellowstone Art Center.

The recipe I’ve chosen is one that is similar to something my mother made regularly as a side dish, when I was a child. I’ve never found something exactly like mom’s (it may have been a Wok Presence thing) but this is close.

Melt butter, add flour, seasonings and onions. Make a paste and add to tomatoes in a 2 quart casserole. Sprinkle top with bread cubes and bake at 400* degrees or until hot & bubble. Serves 6.

(*Sandy’s cooknote—personally I am reluctant to bake anything in a glass casserole dish at 400 degrees. I would bake this at 350 degrees until its hot and bubbly.)

An unusual cookbook from Historic Marshall, Michigan was published in 1979 and titled “A Tasting Tour”. This cookbook contains a selection of the favorite recipes from the collection of Berta Denger. Berta, a native of eastern Iowa, moved to Marshall in 1964 and was soon inundated with requests to “do” parties. The cookbook provides a guide to some of Marshall’s famous 19th century homes. Here is Berta’s easy Blueberry Cake dessert for a 4th of July picnic—and so easy to make!
To make Berta’s Blueberry Cake – layer in a 9×13” pan the following ingredients in this order:

4 responses to “WHEN IT’S NOT A BATTERED, TATTERED, STAINED CHURCH OR CLUB COOKBOOK, WHAT IS IT?”

I have another stack of cookbooks on my desk–those will be in the next part – if this goes over, I can keep it going indefinitely – there are SO many cookbooks from which to choose and many of these aren’t the ones you will find in a bookstore. Thanks for writing again.

Going to make the cucumber recipe– this might be nice with finely-snipped chives for those who like them.

Also going to try the Old Dutch Cole Slaw. The one I must often make, “Susan’s Mother’s Cole Slaw”, was published in The Brandywine Bugle (am
fat, fun round and about Chester County Pennsylvania publication that was in print in the 70’s. It got it’s thickness from beating some vinegar into evaporated milk. It will be fun to try this one which will get it’s thickness naturally from the heavy cream.

Thanks, Nancy – I always look forward to your input! I may be mistaken, will have to check my files, but when I did a post on make ahead salads I think there may have been a cucumber one or two in the mix. That’s the Dutch in me, loving the seven sweets and seven sours. And I almost always have 3 or 4 or more of these pickled salads or fruits that keep almost indefinitely in the frig. And yes, chives would be good with any of these cucumber salads. especially freshly snipped chives. Thanks for writing, girlfriend!